Zimbabwe:

Region: Eastern Africa

Capital: Harare

Official Language/s: Shona, Sindebele, and English

Population: 12891000

Currency: Dollar

Government: Presidential Republic

Politics: Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front is the dominant political party in Zimbabwe having won every election since independence. However Zimbabwe has been marred by a series of controversial election results beginning in the 1990s and continuing today with allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation and fraud. In 2008 opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the presidential run-off citing unfairness in the election in doing so he effectively handed another victory to Mugabe.

Human Rights: Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the government of Zimbabwe’s violations of Human Rights. These organizations have contested that the government violates their people’s rights to shelter, food, freedom of movement and residence, freedom of assembly and the protection of the law. In addition to this there are also reports of assaults on the media, the political opposition, civil society activists and human rights

Economy: Zimbabwe’s government faces an array of economic problems after abandoning attempts to create a market-orientated economy. These problems include a shortage of foreign exchange, elevated inflation as well as supply shortages. Hundreds of millions of dollars were drained from the economy as a result of Zimbabwe’s involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Health: According to the United Nations World Health Organization the life expectancy in Zimbabwe for men is 37 years and for women is 34 years. As of 2006 this was the lowest life expectancy in the world. The Mugabe government has been widely criticised for its failure to aid Zimbabwe’s deteriorating health service. As a result health remains a major issue with the HIV infection rate estimated to be at 20.1% for people aged 15-49 in 2006.

Refugee Crisis: The economic meltdown and repressive political measures have lead to a flood of refugees leaving Zimbabwe for neighboring countries. It is estimated that 3.4 million Zimbabweans or one quarter of the population had fled abroad by mid 2007, the majority having gone to South Africa.

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